Lies, terror and violence in Aquino’s 3rd SONA

Policemen hit an a youth activist with wooden sticks during a demonstration against the state of the nation address (SONA) of Philippine President Benigno Aquino near the legislature building in Manila on July 23, 2012. (photo by Noel Celis/AFP).

Karapatan condemned the use of violence against peaceful protestors during president Aquino’s third State of the Nation Address and the current climate of impunity in the country when it comes to enforced disappearances, political killings, and other human rights violations:

The series of attacks and violence against organized communities and human rights defenders and the latest wave of killings of human rights and environmental activists, like Romualdo Palispis, Willem Geertman and recently farmer Romulo Vaflor indicate the heightening terror and violence being instigated by state security forces and the Aquino government. This comes alongside the serious cases of rights violations brought about by militarization of organized communities especially in the Bondoc Peninsula; the violent demolitions of urban poor communities such as in Silverio, Paranaque, where guns were trained and fired at the barricading residents; the illegal arrest based on trumped-up charges against Makabayan coordinator and lay church worker Agnes Mesina; and the indiscriminate firing at the office of Bayan Muna in Catarman, Northern Samar.
To date, Karapatan has also documented the illegal arrest and detention of 107 individuals based on trumped up criminal charges, bring the total number of political prisoners to 385. The illegal arrest of consultants of the National Democratic Front continue with the arrest of trade union leader Reynante Gamara, while consultants Tirso Alcantara and Alan Jazmines are being subjected to inhumane and repressive conditions in jail.